Hi there!
A university colleague shared this link with me today titled “Tweet and Low Down”. It speaks to how some future students are looking for education using Twitter and as I read it, my mind wantered to Generation Y (1982 – 2000 by some definitions, mid 1980’s to mid 1990’s by others) and how they may look for a travel experience.
If you are reaching this particular market, it is important remember – they are different! Tech savy, strong willed, passionate, family centric, attention craving, team oriented, you may want to heck out a few of these: Generation Y – They’ve arrived at work with a new attitude, standard wikipedia info or econmicexpert.com to name a few. Then if you attracting Gen Y’s as young adults, of those still travelling with families, this article gives a couple ideas that may be worthy of thinking about:
- Give tips on choosing a vacation (remember they are still young)
- Give them a sampler, an on-line experience (they like free and trying before buying)
- Find out what chat rooms are relevant to your ideal guest (they may be chatting on line, more than blogging)
We speak often in tourism about the importance of knowing your ‘ideal guest’ — equally important is knowing how to communiate and reach your ‘ideal guest’. And as ‘we age’ remember how we think as Gen X’ers, Baby Boomers, or Matures — Gen Y’s will be different! So our challenge, how can we give them an ‘experience’ to capture their imagine and desire to travel. Let’s not loose site of this — and if you can’t afford formal market research, invite in a few folks from this age group, buy some donuts, try it out on them!
Nancy Arsenault (www.royalroads.ca/tourism)
